Hurricane strands nearly 300-pound turtle on Delaware beach

Hurricane Dorian swept through New England over the weekend, forcing a higher than average number of animals ashore and stranding about six loggerhead sea turtles along a Delaware beach.

The Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute says the female loggerhead found at Lewes Beach in Delaware is estimated to weigh nearly 300 pounds. (Courtesy Facebook/MERR Institute)

LEWES, Del. (AP) — Hurricane Dorian swept through New England over the weekend, forcing a higher than average number of animals ashore and stranding about six loggerhead sea turtles along a Delaware beach.

The Daily Times of Salisbury reports only one of the turtles stranded at Lewes Beach was found alive. The Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute says the female loggerhead estimated to weigh nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms) has been taken to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for rehabilitation.

The executive director of the conservation nonprofit, Suzanne Thurman, says the turtle had a cracked shell that expanded with each breath, an injury believed to be caused by a boat propeller. The turtle also was underweight and had organisms including parasites living on its shell.

The turtle remains in critical condition at the Baltimore aquarium.

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Information from: The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., http://www.delmarvanow.com/